The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for controlling monetary transactions on gaming machines. More particularly, the invention relates to systems employing electronic funds transfer systems directly coupled to gaming machines for the purpose of obtaining playing credit.
Gaming machines are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Many slot machines, for example, now employ CRT video display screens in place of more traditional mechanically-driven reel displays. Further, poker and other games of chance are now commonly provided on video/electronic machines.
Currency handling apparatuses on gaming machines also are becoming more sophisticated. Where once only coin handling mechanisms were present on gaming machines, high denomination bill acceptors, capable of accepting $50.00 and $100.00 dollar bills, now find wide use. Such bill acceptors include advanced optical, magnetic, and electronic detectors used in conjunction with complex signal processing systems to identify counterfeit currency and prevent tampering.
Gaming establishments such as casinos have themselves adopted high technology solutions. For example, some casinos have connected their gaming machines to a local area network to monitor machine activity. In addition, some casinos now issue magnetic player identification cards which players use to obtain awards for frequent playing. A player holding such card insert, it in a card reader provided on a gaming machine before he or she begins play. Accounting software on the local area network then detects the card insertion, notes the player identity and follows the machine activity. In this manner, the casino tracks the gaming habits of various players.
Some casinos have even connected multiple local area networks to wide area networks spanning multiple casinos. Such wide area networks allow groups of slot machines at various casinos to be connected to one another for various purposes including use in xe2x80x9cprogressivexe2x80x9d games. Progressive games allow jackpots from multiple machines in multiple locations to grow as one large jackpot (e.g., a million dollar jackpot for quarter (25 cent) slot machines).
Further, Automatic Teller Machines (xe2x80x9cATMsxe2x80x9d) are now frequently found in casinos. Thus, casino patrons can access funds from their accounts at remote financial institutions (e.g., banks). Presumably, casinos install such ATMs so that the players will have a large supply of cash available to them to play casino gaming machines.
In the same vein, various groups have proposed xe2x80x9ccashlessxe2x80x9d gaming machines. For example, in the 1980""s, Kenilworth Systems Corporation of Plainview, N.Y. marketed a cashless system for gaming machines. This system employed a proprietary encoded card that could be inserted into a card reader on a gaming machine. The machine would then identify an amount of available funds recorded on the card and convert at least some of those funds to credit for playing the gaming machine. After the player had exhausted the transferred credit, he or she could pay a cashier to encode the card with additional credit for further plays.
More recently, it has been proposed to provide casino gaining machines with the electronics for Electronic Funds Transfer (xe2x80x9cEFTxe2x80x9d) processing. Such systems were initially proposed by Crevelt in xe2x80x9cSlot Machine Maniaxe2x80x9d pp. 225-226, Gollehon Books, Grand Rapids, Mich. (1988, 1989). The same general systems were later described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,022 issued to Lucero. Such references propose systems in which a player simply inserts his or her credit or debit card into a card reader on a gaming machine, enters his or her personal identification number (xe2x80x9cPINxe2x80x9d) on a keyboard, and then requests a desired amount of funds to be transferred from his or her remote financial institution to the local gaming machine. The requested funds transfer would then be approved by the institution, transferred to the gaming machine, and converted to credit to play that machine.
As contemplated by Lucero, this system would result in higher revenues for casinos, as gaming machine players would be able to remain at a given machine for an extended period of time without visiting a cashier or ATM machine. While this may be true, it unfortunately means that a small minority of susceptible individuals will tend to financially over extend themselves. Allowing such individuals to have direct and easy access to their entire bank accounts could, under certain circumstances, be financially ruinous. Thus, the system proposed by Lucero likely will be unpalatable to at least some legislatures which regulate gaming.
Thus, there exists a need for an EFT system that allow cashless transfers of funds to gaming machines and yet protects against rash decisions by some players to divert large amounts of their savings to gaming.
The present invention fills this need by providing a gaming machine with apparatus necessary to send xe2x80x9climitedxe2x80x9d fund requests to and receive authorizations from an EFT system. Specifically, all such requests for funds are limited to a preset amount. Thus, if a player uses an EFT transfer to obtain playing credit, that credit will be limited to the preset amount. For example, if a player is playing a quarter slot machine, the preset credit may be twenty dollars, while if the player is playing a dollar slot machine, the preset credit may be one hundred dollars. In practice, the player will insert his or her ATM card (debit card), key in a PIN number, request playing credit, and receive the preset amount of such credit. The player will not be given the opportunity to select an amount of playing credit other than the preset amount. Thus, the player is unlikely to financially over extend himself or herself when playing a gaming machine of this invention because there is a conscious decision made each time more funds are required to continue game play once a player has used up previously credited amounts.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a gaming machine which allows a player to transfer funds from a remote funds repository (e.g., a bank) via an electronic funds transfer system and convert the transferred funds into plays on the gaming machine. The gaming machine may be characterized as including the following features: (1) a game controller for controlling the play of a game; (2) a gaming machine interface for connecting the game controller to the electronic funds transfer system; and (3) a player interface connected to the gaming machine interface. The player interface is capable of verifying the player""s identity and identifying an account held by the player at the remote funds repository. The gaming machine interface is capable of at least (i) transmitting signals requesting playing credit not exceeding a preset amount to the remote funds repository, and (ii) receiving signals authorizing playing credit in the preset amount for the gaming machine from the remote funds repository.
The game controller preferably includes a processor and associated electronics for controlling the plays of a gaming device, interacting with player inputs, and providing results of a play. Thus, the game controller for a slot machine might control display of simulated rotating slot reels in response to the player initiating a play. The game controller also provides electronic signals indicating whether the player has won or lost, and if the player won, the payout size. The game controller operates in a similar fashion for a video poker or keno machine, as well as for other types of electronic gaming devices.
In preferred embodiments, the gaming machine interface includes functionality allowing it to request an electronic deposit of a payout from the gaming machine to the remote funds repository. Thus, such gaming machines can conduct electronic funds transfers in two directions: (1) depositing winnings from the gaming machine, and (2) withdrawing funds for use as gaming machine playing credit.
Preferably, the player interface includes a card reader for reading encoded information from a credit card or a debit card, a keypad for allowing the player to key in information (e.g., a personal identification number), and a display for displaying information pertaining to, at least, playing credit for the gaming machine. These items are widely available for various point of sale EFT applications arid may, in accordance with this invention, be integrated into the gaming machine housing.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of using a gaming machine to obtain playing credit via an electronic funds transfer system. The method may be characterized as including the following steps: (1) at the gaming machine, determining that a player has requested playing credit from a remote funds repository; and (2) from the gaming machine, transmitting a request for playing credit in a preset amount over the electronic funds transfer system to the remote funds repository. Preferably, the transfer is completed by (3) receiving authorization (via the EFT system) from the remote funds repository for transferring the preset amount of playing credit to the gaming machine; and (4) crediting the player with the preset amount of funds to play the game.
Preferably, in the step of determining that a player has requested playing credit, the gaming machine determines that the player has initiated the request by inserting a credit card or a debit card into a card reader affixed to the gaming machine. Then, the machine automatically generates a request for the preset playing credit and transmits that request over a local area network located in an establishment where the gaming machine resides. The request is next sent to the EFT system which determines whether the remote funds repository has allowed the transaction. If so, the subsequent authorization from the remote funds repository is then received at the local area network in the establishment and forwarded to the gaming machine.
If a player wins, the gaming machine may be used to transfer a payout to the player""s account at the remote funds repository. The method by which the gaming machine accomplishes this may be characterized by the following steps: (1) determining that a player has requested that the payout be transferred to the player""s account at the remote funds repository; (2) transmitting a request via the electronic funds transfer system to deposit the payout to the player""s remote funds repository; and (3) if the gaming machine receives a transfer authorization from the remote funds repository, completing the transfer. Should the gaming machine fail to receive a transfer authorization from the remote funds repository (possibly because the particular EFT system involved is not set up to accept deposits), the gaming machine will make the payout in cash or credit directly to the player.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a gaming machine which, like the machine described above, allows a player to obtain playing credit from a remote funds repository via an electronic funds transfer system. In this aspect, however, the machine first converts the transferred funds to tangible indicia of playing credit. Examples of such tangible indicia include a coupon for playing credit and a casino issued encoded card. While gaming machines issuing such tangible indicia are similar to the machines described above, they should have a player interface capable of (a) issuing the tangible indicia of playing credit, and (b) converting the tangible indicia of playing credit to actual playing credit on the gaming machine. Thus, the gaming machine may include a coupon issuing mechanism or a card encoder for encoding playing credit on a card issued by an establishment which controls the gaming machine (e.g., a casino). Preferably, the player interface also includes a card reader for reading encoded information from a credit card or a debit card. The player uses such credit or debit card as described above, but when the playing credit is transmitted to the gaming machine, it must first be converted to one of the tangible indicia described above.
These and other features of the present invention will be presented in more detail in the following detailed description of the invention and the associated figures.